Credit Risk Summer analyst Review

I really enjoyed the internship, although online, I really felt that it helped me to understand the role and get to know the company well. We were provided with many social events to get to know the team well, which helped to mirror the in-office interactions. Furthermore, we were set challenging yet enjoyable work to complete, that was actually of-use to the desk. I didn't feel like my time was wasted, which is great as an intern.

The colleagues were really helpful and were happy to answer any questions and make extra calls to ensure that I understood the work that I was set and the training that I had been given. Furthermore, many of the analysts gave us an opportunity to send them a draft of our work before submitting our final piece, giving us their improvements really helped me to improve throughout the internship. Due to the online nature, I feel like I was unable to get to know the colleagues in the way that I would in the office, however many zoom calls helped with this in the best way that it could.

I was given a very large amount of support from my supervisors, my supervisor called me every morning to answer any questions that I may have and to check that I am coping well with my workload. Whenever I had any questions or any terms that I would like background knowledge on, I was able to schedule a zoom call with a colleague to explain this further. My manager explained each project thoroughly and how this would be of use to the team.

I was extremely busy every day, but this is how I expected it to be and it helped to mirror the demand of the role. During training, the days were not busy, however, this gave us time to go over the training material and ensure that we fully understood. Following this, we were set multiple case studies alongside daily desk work to complete. The hours were long and I often had to work weekends, but the varied amount of work helped me to understand various aspects to the role.

I was given a suitable amount of responsibility, given the online nature of the internship we were unable to access the data of current deals meaning we could not help too much with the daily running of the team. This reduced the amount of responsibility that we could be given, however, we were given annual/quarterly reports to complete for clients which were used by the team. I think that this gave me enough responsibility to feel as though I was contributing.

As I had graduated, the skills developed could not assist me in my degree, however, I do not think that the skills I learnt would have benefitted me in my economics degree; it may help in an accountancy degree. I do think that the accountancy skills gained will help a lot in the future, and the skill of reporting in a concise yet informative way. Excel training was also very useful and could be transferred to other roles if needed.

As we were not in the office due to coronavirus, we were unable to feel the general atmosphere of the office. However, we had many social events such as a virtual quiz night and escape room, this was very fun and all of the team participated, which gave a very friendly vibe as an intern. The internship coordinators were very kind and listened to any concerns that we had, they were very keen to make sure that we weren't overworking and were enjoying the process.

The internship was very well set up with the main schedule given in the first week. We were given deadlines as soon as the projects were set, and the internship was planned so that key deadlines did not overlap, which I was grateful for. The teams were very organised in contacting us and making sure that we understood our workload, my manager also knew my work schedule well and knew what I was doing each day.

I think the company were really invested in our development, some of the colleagues even arranged a zoom call on a Saturday to help with any questions we had on our project with a deadline on Monday. We were provided with one-week Financial Edge training in the first week of the internship, this helped to give background on accountancy terms and was very beneficial. Following this throughout the internship we had multiple training sessions per week from various teams throughout the division.

I was lucky enough to receive a full-time offer onto the Credit Risk graduate scheme at J.P. Morgan, which I am looking forward to beginning in January. The company offers a very attractive career prospect, with many chances for promotion in the future years and a lot of support given throughout your employment at the firm. We found out whether we had a full-time offer very quickly following the internship, which was reassuring for me.

There was a good social scene between the interns and the colleagues, as good as expected given the online nature. Of course, we were unable to meet in person and could not do the usual intern activities. However, there were drinks nights arranged via zoom where we could chat informally and discuss things other than work. Everybody had a laugh during the escape rooms and final day activities, which gave the impression that there would be many social events in usual life.

We could not do these opportunities due to the coronavirus pandemic, however, we spoke a lot about the opportunities that were available and there were many. From sporting activities to society-like events there were very varied opportunities available. We were invited to the women's network events for example, in which they have many talks and events outside of work to participate in. This helps to socialise outside of your division, which is exciting when joining a new firm.